Following the spectacular Tokyo DisneySea expansion announcement last week, as the press release was saying that TDS guests will access the new "port" through a pathway between Arabian Coast and Lost River Delta i wanted to check all this and went to Google Maps where, at my good surprise, i found new satellite views showing Tokyo Disneyland Fantasyland expansion! We're gonna have a look at these ones first and we'll be back to TDS after.
So, first let's remind that the TDL expansion will include in Fantasyland a Beauty and the Beast land with Belle Village, a state-of-the-art Beauty and the Beast E-Ticket ride under Beast Castle, a live entertainment theatre, a Minnie Meet and Greet house and also, with direct access from Tomorrowland a Big Hero 6 "Baymax" attraction.
That said, keep in mind the above rendering and have a look now at the satellite view below. Ive indicated on it where are the three main attractions of the expansion. The Belle village is not built yet, though there is some building already on the right.
Let's zoom in now and the next picture shows the Beauty and the Beast E-Ticket ride show building, the Beast Castle which will come on the top of it - near the entrance on the top right - is not built yet.
If you've never seen artworks of this Beauty and the Beast attraction, here is the one released by TDR.
Next, is the new live entertainment theater and the model picture below shows how the show buildings of the Beauty and the Beast E-Ticket ride and the live entertainment theatre located on its right are close one from the other.
Here are the artworks released showing the future live entertainment theater.
And here is the satellite view with indication of where is what.
In Tomorrowland the new Big Hero 6 ( Baymax ) attraction - a new adaptation of the Mater's Junkyard Jamboree ride with a Baymax theme - will be located in fact very near from Fantasyland Belle Village, but of course guests will access it from Tomorrowland.
Here is the satellite view of where it is currently built.
Now, let's come back to Tokyo DisneySea expansion which was the start of my research as i told you.
First, one word about the incredible price of 250 Billion Yen ( $2.2 Billion ) for three medium size lands with four attractions ( plus restaurants and shops ) and a new hotel. They've built the whole Disneyland Paris park plus the six hotels for almost that price - sure, it was 25 years ago, but still... One of the reasons of the price is because costs at TDR are around 20% higher than in others Disney parks either because of lots of structures which must be build according to anti seismic regulations and also because Disney is not the owner of TDR parks and of course Disney needs to take its commission when they're selling new lands or attractions to TDR.
Anyway, to come back to the reason why i was looking for satellite views of the new TDS "port" it's because, just like many of you, i thought that this Frozen, Tangled and Peter Pan mini lands would have fit better in TDL Fantasyland rather than at DisneySea, so there must be a reason why they didn't put the three lands at TDL...
...specially considering that the new TDS "port" will be right next door to TDL Fantasyland as we can see on the map below released by TDR.
Now, here is a satellite view of the new TDS port where i've written where will be the three lands and the new hotel - that's my guess, but i think i'm right - as well as showing the announced entrance pathway between Arabian Coast and Lost River Delta..
So, why didn't they attached this new lands to TDL Fantasyland instead than to TDS? There is several reasons for that. First, one could think that it's may be because, from TDL, there is two roads to go over - the backstage roads which go all around each park, only used by TDR cast-members and workers. But in fact, if you look well, there is
also a road that the announced path from TDS will have to go through, meaning that this is not really the problem.
Then, we could think that they couldn't do a path going from TDL Fantasyland to the new area, but it's also not true. They certainly couldn't do it from the right of Toon Town ( as view on the picture below ) but they definitely could create a pathway between the new Beauty and the Beast ride show building and Toon Town Gadget's Go coaster. It would need to go over two roads instead of one but we've seen things more difficult to achieve.
But this would mean having an incredible concentration of Tokyo Disneyland guests in this area of the park when both expansions would open, and we all know that there is already a lot of people daily inside Tokyo Disneyland. So, they obviously needed to balance the number of guests between TDL and TDS to make sure that guests won't precipitate in one park only when expansions open. But in fact, there is also another reason why they choose to put the three lands at Tokyo DisneySea, and it's because TDS needs attractions for young children related to Disney Classics.
We all love Tokyo DisneySea because it's such a masterpiece of theming but apparently families with young children rather go to TDL than TDS because they can find at TDL many more attractions with classic Disney characters beloved by young children. Sure, there is at TDS shows and lagoon parades with Mickey and the gang and plenty of Disney characters, but if we except Mermaid Lagoon and the Sindbad ride there is a lack of attractions for youngers and TDR is trying to balance that - the new "Nemo" ride which opened last year at Port Discovery was a first attempt - and the Frozen, Peter Pan and Tangled lands will help to create a kind of "TDS Fantasyland" with family attractions with an appeal for youngers.
Yes, it will be probably at the expense of a break in the coherent theming of TDS. The "alibi" for the new DisneySea port is that it will be "magical springs that lead to a world of Disney fantasy" and, well, let's hope they'll find a way to integrate the new lands without breaking this perfection of coherent theming that Tokyo DisneySea currently is.
Pictures: copyright Disney - Oriental Land, Google Maps
